Councillor Howard Sykes
5 Ballard Way
Shaw
Oldham
OL2 8DU
Please address all correspondence to:
Room 343, Level 3
Civic Centre
West Street
Oldham
OL1 1UL
E: howard.sykes@oldham.gov.uk
W: http://howardsykes.mycouncillor.org.uk
Twitter: @Howard_Sykes
The Rt. Hon. Simon Hughes MP
Minister of State for Justice
Ministry of Justice
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ
Date:14 February 2014
A Valentine Day request – Pardons for Historic Convictions against Gay Men
The Liberal Democrat Group on Oldham Council welcomes the recent granting of a posthumous royal pardon to renowned mathematician, computer pioneer and World War 2 code-breaker Alan Turing from a conviction for ‘gross indecency’ in 1952.
This ‘offence’, now abolished, condemned many homosexual men for being in consensual relationships and in Turing’s case led to state-endorsed ‘chemical castration’, a disgusting punishment based on the misapprehension that sexual preferences can be medically ‘treated’ and a practice more akin to those of Nazi Germany.
This pardon was granted on Christmas Eve last year under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy after a request from the Secretary of State for Justice who said that “Dr Alan Turing was an exceptional man with a brilliant mind”.
75,000 other gay men were just as unfairly persecuted, including acclaimed playwright Oscar Wilde. Some of these men are still alive and have consequently carried the stain of having a ‘criminal’ record as a sex offender.
In 2012 this Government passed the Protection of Freedoms Act, which allows those convicted of homosexual offences to apply to have their entire criminal records removed if their past conduct in fact no longer constitutes a ‘crime’.
The Liberal Democrat Group believes that all such individuals convicted, whether living or dead, should now be pardoned without the requirement for a personal application.
We therefore call upon you to announce in February – which is appropriately LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Trans-sexual) month – a commitment by this Government to introduce the necessary legislation to effect this change as soon as possible.
After all, such a commitment is only appropriate when as Liberal Democrats we have championed gay marriage and equal rights for same sex partners.
Yours sincerely
Howard Sykes